Tag: depression

The 6 “R’s” of Working with Problematic Thought Patterns

Thought patterns can get us into lots of trouble!  They can have a tremendous “stickiness” that gets our minds “stuck” around certain issues, beliefs or concepts. Once our minds are “stuck” we humans feel a tremendous “urge” to follow these thought patterns… which often times, doesn’t lead anywhere good. This is an overview of working with this “sticky” quality of our minds, and freeing ourselves of the “urge” to follow destructive patterns.

1. Recognizing 

  • Recognize that you are stuck!!
  • The 1st and most important step.
  • A useful quote that can help us out here is… “the emotions are our bodies reaction to thought”
  •  Chances are that if you are feeling strong emotions, you are probably “stuck” somewhere.

 

2. Refraining

  • Refrain from following the “urge” to follow destructive thinking patterns.
  • I find it useful to do something other than the usual response here…
  • If you know “The Work” then this would be a great time to do it!
  • By refraining we train ourselves to adapt and respond more appropriately to life

 

3. Relaxing

  •  Once we refrain from our habitual “urge” to follow, we may find that the feeling of being stuck is still there… this is normal.
  • Relax into the feeling of being “stuck”
  • You will find that if you can allow yourself to relax, both the feeling and the urge to follow our habitual responses dissipate and lessen!
  • I find it useful to practice a breathing exercise or grounding practice (like meditation) to allow this relaxation to occur.

 

4. Resolve

  • Resolve to do this process again and again!
  • Why? Because you are human, and it’s in the nature of humans to get stuck in problematic thinking patterns from time to time!
  • Don’t be harsh on yourself with this… Don’t say to yourself “Oh jeez… here I am stuck again” in a negative way when you notice that you are stuck. Rather, congratulate yourself for noticing and having the ability to see that you are stuck! This leads to the road of release.

 

5. Rephrase/Reaffirm:

  • Rephrase whatever the “negative” thought was that your recognized was keeping you stuck
  • Be careful how you talk to yourself because you are listening
  • Complete a “thought record” from Mind over Mood if necessary

 

6. Reward

  • Treat yourself kindly by rewarding yourself with a simple life pleasure, such as a massage, a nice warm bath or to curl up with a good book.

Depression: Breaking the Thought/Emotion Cycle

1) This is our Brain in western society. We tend to be left or right sided in our thinking with little cross over.

2) This is in contrast to Eastern thinking- Where there is balance within the energy systems- There is a little yin within the yang and a little yang within the yin.

3) As a result of our “thinking minds” – We get stuck in the cycle of thoughts triggering an emotion, which triggers another thought triggering another emotion, and round and round we go!

4) How do we break this cycle? With a mind-body-spirit approach to medicine (i.e. naturopathic medicine). Mind is another word for where we house our thoughts, body is another word for where we feel our emotions, and spirit is what is necessary to break the thought/emotion connection. We need to BREATHE deeply to calm our minds, create a “space” in our thoughts. We need to sit in our emotions and allow them to come up without any thought or judgement from our mind.

A useful meditation is:

1) Right side = yang side = masculine/go go/power side -connect that with the center of your female energy by putting right hand on the belly button.

This is where you were connected to your mother in her womb – the center of your female energy.

2) Left side = yin side =healing/feminine/calm side -connect healing energy of the left hand with the part of your body that needs the healing – i.e. place over heart, stomach, head, forehead – wherever you feel, intuitively, that you need the healing.

3) Now breathe, slowly and deeply, through your nose into your belly so that your right hand rises. Exhale, breathe in again, sending the healing power of the breath to your left hand. Allow the breath to gather up any tension, negativity, emotions, self-doubt, etc and send it out with the exhale. Repeat/continue breathing for 2-200 breaths (or for however many – there is NO limit) Use this as step 3 of the 6 R’s please see sheet